Selling Your Home In Central Kentucky: How To Get Your Home Sold In A Buyers Market

We are lucky compared to a lot of places in the United States. In Central Kentucky we are not experiencing the problems with houses sitting on the market for long extended listing periods.

Granted there are still a few that linger on the market. Houses listed over $200,000 are not moving as quickly. I was lucky last month. It was my best month ever to get my buyers to a successful closing.

How did I do it with the media telling me times were bad? I took a news fast. Who needs to listen to what is happening elsewhere? I had a failure is not an option attitude about my real estate business.

I helped many folks get the home they had dreamed of.

It could have been YOUR home I sold to them. (but it wasn't)

So...you are selling your home in Central Kentucky.

You may want to rethink how you are trying to sell your home.

In this kind of market you will need to get your home listed by an Internet savvy Realtor(R). Print ads are starting to be a thing of the past. If your house gets viewed, chances are excellent that it was seen on the internet on more than a dozen websites.

Plan on having an open house? (Maybe you expect your Realtor to have many open houses.) Since I have been in the business, I have never sold one to a buyer this way.

I spent my first 2 years in the business having an open house each Sunday. Why did I do it? To get buyers to feed my pipeline. Sure, I would have loved for them to buy that house I was showing....but I wanted their email address or phone number for later. Chances were good that they would be a future client. They are out looking for a house aren't they?

Houses I have sold most always have been shown by a Realtor that saw it on the Internet for his client. Or his client saw it online and called his agent to go see it. Every now and then someone pulls up to my sign... calls me and I write an offer for them on my listing. This is as rare as hen's teeth.

This said...a FSBO has almost a next to zero chance that someone driving by will come knock on the door. Also, would you want a total stranger coming into your house to take a look at your valuables? Or put your family in danger? We live in a scary time.

As a seller you start to question why the house is not getting an offer. How do you get your home sold in a buyers market? Could it be the price? Did you study all the comps that an appraiser will use to come up with the right value for your home? You do know that if you do get an offer the house will have to appraise at purchase price? If it doesn't, you may have to lower your contract price or lose your buyer. The buyer will not be able to get financing for any extra money above the appraised value.

Maybe you are not even getting showings? Have you done all you could to clean it up? Fresh paint? Cleaned carpets? Boxed up knicknacks? Staged it? Taken out all signs of pets? My buyers passed on many houses that just were not clean, neat or needed paint.

If you have done all these things, then take a look at how it is marketed on the Internet.

Just putting it on the MLS and a sign out front just doesn't cut it anymore. Want to see what your Realtor(R) does with their marketing? How good are they on the Internet? Google search their name. That will bring up a plethora of all the marketing they have done on their listings. Or not. If you only see a few things on the first page (or not even on the second page)then you will know your house or the agent is not getting their share of Internet presence.

Google the address of your listing. That should bring up quite a few webpages too. You may need to rethink just who you want to list your home and market it.

We are in an odd time with the gas prices, the war, the election , the stock market swings and the general gloom of the real estate market. You need action and you need it now.

If you are ready to get your house sold give me a call and I will see what I can do to get things going for your home to get an offer then a closing. What will it take? Just pick up the phone and ask me.

Call me at 859-979-2834 You can't afford to wait much longer. If you think it is slow now ...just wait till school starts. Then it will be the holidays.

Rated number #1 featured Kentucky Realtor® on Activerain.com and Localism.com. Publisher/Author for the only Central Kentucky email newsletter on local real estate listings and sold properties, Kentucky relocation, local events, homeowner information and fun! For more information on Lizette, Kentucky Horse Farms, Prudential Don Foster, Madison County, Fayette County, Richmond or Lexington, Kentucky click on Lizette.us.

Good morning Lizette -- awesome post with really great advice. I find my clients love to see their Internet statistics regarding how many times their listings have been viewed on-line. It gives them comfort to know that they have different venues of reaching people and the listing is being found. Enjoy your day. Regards, C.

Lizette - Excellent post. I have gone back and forth on Open Houses. I always hold a Broker Open House to sell it to all the other agents in the area. But Public Open Houses can be dangerous. Let's just put up a sign and advertise single woman alone, possible perscription drugs and valuables in house to be sold for quick cash later.

Lizette--Way to go...writing to those sellers explaining there are buyers out there for well prepared properties. As for open houses, I have sold homes this way...several in fact. But it was years ago when good buyers could not connect with good agents because everyone was soooo busy. The market has changed and open houses now do less for the seller than in the past. Good internet exposure with good pictures and a well prepared home is essential in this market! Great post!

Roland - It's teriffic that you are doing well also. We will all do well if we keep working smarter. Blogging is a good way to reach our future clients.

Susie - I agree. Some just take their word for it and never check them out even before they are hired. I use it in my listing presentation...then ask them to Google the agents they were thinking of interviewing.

Carolyn - See...you are already on the right track to success!

Shannon - I agree...I am a bit leary of them too now. I've changed the way I do things now for safety.

Teri - If buyers have you as their agent they have found the very best they can get. You have your act together! Hope you enjoy your summer!